Lily and James
by Watapon
Summary: Lily and James begin their 7th year of Hogwarts, James is still in the pursuit of Lily, and Lily is forced to cope with the big-headed git that is now titled head boy. This the story of James and Lily Potter.
1. Lily and James

James Potter stood at platform 9 and ¾ . He had left for the Hogwarts' express too early, and was now regretting it. He leaned against a barrier, after checking that it was solid first. He checked his watch, then glanced at his gleaming head boy badge.

Almost no one had arrived yet, just a few eager first years and their parents, also some of the prefects. His mother had insisted that he should arrive early, "he wasn't going to miss the train to the school of which he was now titled head boy," he laughed at his mother's comment.

Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red. He jerked his head around, _Lily Evans. _He leapt behind the barrier. Lily Evans had flaming red hair and brilliant green eyes, her intellect was superior and her smile just lit up the whole world. His world. That's what James thought, at least.

She began to talk to one of the prefects. He peeked at her from behind the barrier, still hidden, the badge on her robe glistened. He looked at it more closely; it was rectangular with a gold rim and silver lettering. _Similar to his._ As the thought began to kick in, so did his high energy levels. Without thinking, he emerged from behind the barrier, grinning madly and walked, quickly, to Lily with long, proud strides.

"Hey, Evans!" He waved, grinning.

Lily glanced at him, her smile immediately faded at his arrival. _When did he get here? _She thought.

The prefect awkwardly glanced at James and Lily, then said something about her friends and left. Lily waved at her with disappointment as she left.

"What?" Lily demanded, with an annoyed look,

"You seem happy to see me," James replied,

"What do you want?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

"I…just couldn't help noticing the badge you happen to be wearing," he grinned

He seemed too happy, Lily glanced at his collar. James saw her face fall as she found his head boy badge.

"H…How?" She stuttered in shock, before pulling herself together and retorting, "Did you steal it from you friend Remus?"

Remus Lupin, friend of James and former prefect partner of Lily's. Lily had no idea, how James was titled Head boy without first becoming a prefect.

"No," he replied at her insult, "I've just come into close terms with Dumbledore" he continued with a smirk.

A crowd of students began to fill in the vast emptiness of the platform. She glanced around, hoping to find her friends, without any luck. She sighed. Their conversation grew silent as the sound of the crowd in the platform grew loud.

"Well see you at the meeting!" James laughed before running off, back to his trunk. He couldn't help but grin stupidly until his friends arrived. Lily was happy to see him leave, although she was usually warm to the other students, she couldn't stand the pestering that James had put her through the past six years.

She sighed, before climbing onto the train. She walked slowly through the corridor, glancing at all the compartments until she found the one with her friends. She smiled and them before sliding open the door and sighing in exhaustion, then taking a seat.

"Have you heard, Potter's the new head boy?" Charlotte smirked

Lily groaned, even her friends loved to pair up James and her as much as possible. There was no escape. Charlotte was a very athletic girl, she was a chaser in the Gryffindor quidditch team and was very cheerful, and although her jokes _did_ seem to get annoying, she was funny too.

"So much alone time together!" she squealed, with dreaming eyes, as she picture the "couple" together.

Alice snickered. She was always in the mood for Charlotte's jokes , her athletic ability had gone down the drain after taking a bludger to the head during a quidditch match, she was never the same since. She was very talented in transfiguration and charms, wand work, but unlike Lily, she seemed to dislike books.

Lily ignored her, she stole one of her friend's chocolate frogs. There was 5 minutes left before she had to leave for the meeting. She decided to go early, her friends were getting on her nerves. So she got up, and after climbing over the trunks and bits of rubbish, she left the compartment. When she got there, she had been the first to arrive. She sat down, leaned back, gazing out the window.

The compartment door slid open, and James entered, grinning. Lily looked up at him with her big green eyes in disappointment, then nodded at him as a greeting. James took the seat next to her, and they sat in silence, until James asked her what the meeting was for.

"Well, basically, we introduce the prefects, and cover the basic timetable for patrols" she said briefly, having gone through the process last year as prefect. James was so close to her that he could smell her strawberry scented hair.

James began to blush at the thought of patrols. 2 whole hours with Lily, _alone_. Then the prefects began to arrive. Remus first, he had been waiting outside, to give James and her some privacy until he realized that there was no point. She smiled warmly at him, "Hello Remus," He smiled, "Hello Lily!"

Then the sixth year hufflepuff prefects arrived, shortly followed by the new fifth year prefects. When everyone had arrived Lily stood up, "Hello, my names is Lily Evans, I'm the new head girl and-"

James interrupted, "I'm James Potter, I'm sure most of you already know me…" He trailed off grinning, with a raised eye brow. Most of the girls blushed and giggled, Lily rolled her eyes.

"So basically, we're going to discuss the timetable of our duties, well patrols" Lily took over, "So if you can take some time to talk with your partner about your preferred days, then that would be great!" She said smiling, everyone began to talk. She turned to James, "So…?"

"Hm?"

"Which day to you prefer?" She snapped, he was beginning to get on her nerves.

"Well, I've got quidditch practise on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are a no go, Sirius would kill me…" He began to mutter to himself,

"Thursdays!" He exclaimed finally,

"Okaaaaay…" Then she turned to the crowd of prefects who were still discussing a time, "A…Excuse me! Everyone!" Nobody was listening, she was definitely not louder than the chatter of 24 prefects. But James was.

"Everyone, listen up, Evans is talking!" He exclaimed, standing on the compartment seats.

"Thank you, well, have all you decided which days you prefer?" All of them nodded, so Lily took out a piece of parchment and wrote down recorded their timetable. Thankfully none of their days clashed, Lily sighed as she realised that she and James would have to do patrols every week, since there were only 12 other pairs, making 13 pairs and 14 days in a fortnight.

The meeting ended quicker than expected, since no one decided to do patrols on the same days. So she told everyone that the meeting was finished and made her way to her own compartment with her friends. Charlotte smirked at her with raised eyebrows, "Sooooooooo, what happened?" she asked teasingly, with a wink,

"What do you _think _happened?"

"Oh I don't know, the prefects didn't arrive, so you and Potter decided to, well, get to _know_ each other better"

Lily sighed, "Charlie, you've been my friend for, what, _six_ years now, through all those years, you still believe that your theory is right? Maybe I should explain it to you with a hex?"

Alice chuckled, "When did you get so defensive?"

"You wouldn't be so _defensive_, until you had something to _defend_!" Charlotte pointed out with glee,

"Oh shut up," Lily glared at her

Charlotte cringed as she tried to endure the red-head's glare,

"Okay! I get it!" she cried, Lily smiled maliciously;_ being a red-head wasn't so bad after all_.

"Anyone up for a game of exploding snap?" Alice asked innocently

"Sure!" Charlotte agreed

There was a long silence as Charlotte shuffled the cards and dealt it out,

"You know, Lily, maybe you should be a little nicer to Potter" Alice suggested softly, afraid of Lily's reply,

"WHAT?"

"Well, he has been …you know…well…maybe he's trying to change…" Alice sighed with exasperation,

Lily blinked with disbelief.

"Don't forget that he is still in the "pursuit of Lily Evans" project!" Charlotte exclaimed with exaggeration.

" And you have been kind of hard on him…" Alice tried to avoid Lily's eye contact, awkwardly, though she could still sense Lily's death-glare.

"What happened to my friends? Where did you take them?" Lily asked with mock concern, trying desperately to change the subject,

"What do you mean, Lily?" Alice sighed again, Charlotte grinned though,

"Ah, Lily knows we're right!" She exclaimed triumphantly,

Lily sighed,

"Come on guys, do you really expect me to be nice to a big-headed _git_ like him?"

"Yes," Charlotte frowned at Lily, "Just give the guy a chance,"

Lily grew silent, for a long time, as her friends looked at her as if the expected something. She finally answered,

"Fine,"

As they tried to hide their victorious grins, Alice and Charlotte began their game of exploding snap, and left Lily to her book.

After a long game of exploding snap, the train had finally come to a halt. Lily, who was the only one noticed this, glanced up from her book,

"Let's go guys," she said, interrupting their currently running game of snap, they looked up at her with vacant expressions. They glanced out the window, after realising that they train at stopped, they got up and slid open the door. They left their luggage on the train, and headed down towards the carriages.

Lily was silent on the carriage ride, she was beginning to consider begging Dumbledore to take back her head girl badge and give it to someone else. _Anyone_ else. She was sure that most of the girls would jump at the chance to be head girl, especially with the other current head student. Lily clutched her precious book, not knowing why she even thought to bring it to the feast, she obviously wasn't going to read it, no one would let her.

Lily and her friends made their way down the Gryffindor table, and chose a seat. Charlotte was grinning at her,

"What?"

"Oh, I just thought that you should go and sit with Potter, seeing as he _is_ your fellow head student"

Lily knew she was just joking, but it was beginning to get on her nerves. Alice stopped laughing and glanced behind Lily,

"What?"

"Uh, Lily?" Charlotte gulped, "Turns out you didn't need to go sit with your fellow head student, because he's coming to sit with you…"

Lily whipped her head around, sure enough James was walking down between the tables, with a smirk, and his friends following closely behind. Lily groaned, as James waved happily at her. He sat down next to her, very closely,

"Hi, Evans!" He said cheerfully

"Hi." She replied, defeated and annoyed.

James laughed, as the large doors opened to let in the first years for their sorting. A lot of the first years look terrified.

After the sorting, and the feast, Dumbledore said a few words and let them go to bed. Lily was too tired to talk, and had eaten too much as well. When Dumbledore called something a feast, it was just her instincts to eat enough to be able call it a feast too. Of course, James' and Sirius' ideas were completely different from hers; they thought that "one must stuff himself whenever possible".

Lily wanted to go to sleep, but her friends thought otherwise, it was the first day back, to the last year that they would be here…Lily felt an immediate sadness, she slid her hand across the walls and stair case rails. She didn't want to leave a place like Hogwarts.

"Lilyyyyyyyyyyyy!" She heard James running to catch up with her slow walk.

"Hm?" She was too tired to get annoyed at the moment,

"Ah, so classes start tomorrow?" Lily looked at him in disbelief,

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, class has been starting the day after arrival for the _past six years_"

James just laughed, "Well, in case _you_ haven't noticed, all _I've_ been paying attention to is you," he grinned at Lily, who had narrowed her eyes at the idiot walking beside her. She tried to remember to be civil with him, but that was _bloody well hard_.

_No, he is _not _going to ruin the first day back at Hogwarts._

"I wonder just _how_ you got that head boy badge?"

"If anyone knows it, it's not me!" he replied laughing,

They reached their common room, "Well, goodnight Lily"

"Goodnight, James" Lily climbed up the stairs to the girls dormitory, looking forward to her bed.

That night, James fell asleep with a grin plastered on his face.


	2. The first civil day

Lily sat up in bed, classes were starting today, she remembered. Lily got out of bed, changed, then went down to breakfast. Her friends were already down there, _with the marauders. _She knew this would happen, if it happens once, her friends will make sure that it will _definitely _happen again.

James looked her and smiled, she couldn't help but smile back, it was just in her nature to do so. Lily sat down, of course next to James, as it was the only seat left. Breakfast was her favorite, strawberries and pancakes. Lily was very much a morning person, it was like as if she were under an imperious spell. When breakfast finished, Lily left to go to potions, James came with her, he had the same timetable as her.

Professor Slughorn greeted Lily with a warm smile and a nod, than James with an annoyed look. James smiled at him.

_He's still angry at me._

He sat down next to Lily, who didn't protest, due to her cheerful morning self. She smiled at James before reaching down to get her books from her bag. James' heart fluttered.

Professor Slughorn announced to the class that they would be making felix felicis today. Before he could ask what it was, Lily's hand shot up, and after a small admiring chuckle, he pointed to-

"Miss Evans"

"Felix Felicis is a potion often referred to as liquid luck. It makes you lucky for a time span depending on how much of the potion you take," she said smiling

"Right you are! Ten points to Gryffindor!"

"Already?" James laughed,

Lily just smiled. Slughorn added that this potion would take almost a month's time to finish. Lily began to feel anxious, Felix felicis was a _very_ difficult potion, she didn't know if she could pull it off.

She flicked to the page, then tied up her hair in a bun, before gathering the ingredients. James admired her determination to begin, and noticed the way her hair bounced as she walked. He set up his cauldron, before leaning back on his chair to wait for Lily.

At the end of the period, the morning Lily began to wear off. James noticed this, but was happy that Lily still hadn't found a reason to be angry at him.

Next was transfiguration, James was looking forward to this, transfiguration and him got along _quite_ well. Lily pulled out her hair tie, buns were just a potions thing.

In transfiguration, they were told to begin to prepare for their N.E.W.T.S . Professor McGonagall told them that they would be changing large furniture into farm animals. She had demonstrated back in their very first class in their first year, Professor McGonagall had turned her desk into a pig and back again, since then Lily had been anxious to learn how to do that.

James smirked, and with a casual flick of his wand, his desk turned into sheep. Then he leaned back against the wall to watch Lily. Lily was frustrated with herself, her first try had been a disaster, her chair _had _transformed, but not what she had expected. It had transformed into a chicken, which began to squawk and run around the classroom. Lily chased after it, leaping over the other desks and chairs that seemed to be misbehaving too. James watched her in amusement, falling over with hysterics. The chicken ran out the door, and Lily went after it. The chicken was so _fast! _She leapt at it, and after missing, she pointed her wand at it and shouted,

"Stupefy!"

Lily made a way back to the classroom, when she had entered the room, no one else had transfigured their furniture yet, with the exception of James Potter that is. With one look at her, James fell over laughing, she had feathers in her hair and she was holding a petrified chicken, with an annoyed expression. She then transfigured her desk into a cow, after realizing that cows barely moved. Then sat down on the floor and glared at the still laughing James.

Professor McGonagall glanced over at the laughing James, the bored cow and sheep, and the stupefied chicken. She supressed a smile before ending the class.

The rest of the day was less eventful, much to Lily's liking, as much as she _loved_ running after chickens, she enjoyed having quieter lessons. James, on the other hand, found that story extremely amusing, and enjoyed explaining it to his and Lily's friends during lunch. The day was running smoothly for him, Lily wasn't angry at him, _and_ she seemed to enjoy his presence.

At the end of the day, Lily still seemed to be in a good mood, maybe it was just the first-day-back-at-school mood that she had. Or maybe, James hoped, she actually was beginning to think of him in a more _friendly_ sort of way, that in a I-**really**-want-to-kill-you-potter type of way like she did the past six years.

James thought about this for a long time while in bed, either one was possible, so he decided to get some sleep and enjoy today before waking up next morning and possibly finding Lily hating him like she had the past six years.

Meanwhile in the _girl's_ dormitory, everyone was still awake. Charlotte kept bothering Lily about the first of day classes with _James. _Lily was beginning to call James, well, James! Instead of the usual "Potter" that she usually spat out with so much hatred.

"Shut _up_ Charlie! Give it a rest!" Lily couldn't stand her anymore, she began to wonder how she had put up with Charlotte the past six years, "You're the one that told me to be _nicer_ to him!"

"_Sorry!_ Gosh, I swear, Lily, your nerves are really growing fragile! You should go to the hospital wing!" She exclaimed with mock concern,

"Well, if it weren't for you and that James, then maybe my nerves wouldn't _be_ so fragile!"

"Me and_ James_, huh?" Charlotte laughed, and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Come on guys, let's get to sleep," Alice said,

Lily nodded, then turned the lights off.

She lay awake _James wasn't as bad as I expected,_ maybe she _should _have given him a chance all those times he had asked her out…meh. Lately he had been different, maybe she just didn't notice the last time he decided to _finally grow up_.

"Lily?" She heard Charlotte call,

"huh?"

"Are you thinking about_ James_?"

"Go away, Charlie"

"So you are?"

"No, and how did you know I was awake anyway?"

"I couldn't hear the monstrous snoring that you produce every night," Charlotte said matter-of-factly,

"Shut up Charlie,"

"Go to _sleep_ guys!" Alice snapped,

"Sorry _mom_," Charlotte concluded before falling silent.

Lily went back to her thoughts, she kind of felt guilty saying no to James every time he asked, but he hadn't exactly made it easy for her. Each time he asked, it was at a place that it wasn't ever appropriate, in the corridors, in the middle of class, in the common room, anywhere that there was an audience. He didn't even let her date _other_ people! She had been in four dates over the past six years! FOUR! _All_ of which didn't continue to the second date. At first Lily had thought that no one liked her. Later she found out that it was mainly because they were all afraid of James hexing them, if he found out which he usually did, somehow. She snorted, and they called themselves Gryffindors! James _did_ seem to have changed…

She yawned. She thought about today, he hadn't asked her out, _yet_…maybe he _had_ grown up…

Lily didn't know what to think of it, so she decided she probably should go to sleep now, she had charms first period tomorrow.


	3. A time of qudditch

One month had almost passed, quidditch season had started. Lily and Alice, along with the marauders had decided to go watch Charlotte, James and Sirius at their first quidditch practice. James had already hosted trials, so now was when the _real_ training began. Their youngest player was a third year, who was the only new member of the team, a seeker.

After a painful but small game, they decided to head in for lunch. Lily was, once again, forced to sit next to James, but she didn't mind, they were friends after all. James, however, especially enjoyed meal times for this reason. A lot of the times, Frank Longbottom would join them, because Alice was there. Charlotte would keep glancing at them, and raising her eye brows at Lily.

At the end of lunch, Lily went up to the common room to finish her defense against the dark arts essay. Lily was so focused that she didn't even realise the sky outside darkening, until Charlotte jumped from behind her.

"Hey, Lily! Watcha doing? Wait, is that your _potions_ essay?" Charlotte glanced at it with a worried look,

"_Yes" _Lily snapped,

"So you spent 6 hours, doing a mile long potions essay," Charlotte looked at her,

"Yeah, so what?"

"Ah, I shouldn't expect anything else from my own little Lily-flower," she said sighing and rested her chin on Lily's head, "Well, my little Lily-flower, what is it that is your lifelong ambition?"

"Well, I would like to be an auror-" she began

"Woah, really?" Charlotte could hardly contain herself, then began to fall into hysterics,

"What?" Lily demanded, Charlotte paused, breathing and flushing

"So, now I completely understand why _your_ timetable is identical to the one of _James'_" still trying to keep up the wise act,

"What, so James wants to be and auror too?"

"Yes," Charlotte replied finally calm

"How do you know?"

"I asked, like any normal person would,"

"You're not _normal_"

"Whatever,"

"Charlie?"

"Hm?"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"National league Quidditch team!"

Lily smiled "Ah, my child, you have a lot to learn"

"Indeed I do…see you at dinner Lily!" With that Charlotte left the room,

- Lily waved at James, who was now hovering about 100 feet in the air. He grinned down at her. The next Sunday. James swooped down,

"Hey, do you guys want to play quidditch?" He asked Lily, Alice and the remaining marauders,

"Sure!"

Within minutes, Lily was 100 feet in the air, hoping that this wasn't the last day that she would experience, as she looked down. James flew up to her,

"Ready, Lily?"

"Sure,"

"Hey, are you okay?" James watched her trembling hands as they gripped the handle of the broomstick,

"Yeah,"

"Just remember to enjoy yourself," He gave her a reassuring smile before starting the game.

She was now a chaser, in their (fun?) game of quidditch. Out of all of her friends, she was the least experienced, and now she regretted agreeing to this.

There was one keeper, Remus, and no seekers or beaters. She looked around, James, and Alice were on her team, Charlotte, Sirius and Peter on the other one. Remus wasn't on any team.

Alice had the quaffle, who threw it skilfully to James. He flew down to Lily, who was still feeling conscious about falling. He passed it to Lily, _Come on Lily you can do it_ James urged. She dropped it. Lily went after it, speeding earthwards, she caught the quaffle, and pulled hard on her handle, she stopped, just centimetres above the ground.

Lily began to feel confident, she flew towards the goal posts, Sirius and Charlotte chased after her, James cheering like a lunatic. She whizzed past the goals and threw in the quaffle. She closed her eyes afraid of missing, then, with a maddening roar from James, she knew she had succeeded.

She flew down, and landed.

"Woah, Lily, that was incredible!" James exclaimed,

"Thanks," she blushed, Charlotte grinned at her.

Maybe quidditch _wasn't_ so bad…Lily was beginning to think like this for everything now. She began to reconsider her view of things, everything seemed to be beginning to change.

They continued to play quidditch for the rest of the day. Lily's skill was no beginner's luck, they soon found out. Her team was winning by far, especially with James and Alice since they were so much better than her. She was beginning to enjoy being in the air, she felt like she was on top of the world. The sky began to darken, so they decided to head in.

The students were beginning to gather in the great hall for dinner, James realised how hungry he felt. Lily felt good, that game of quidditch really brought her spirits up. James grinned at her, noticing how happy she was. She blushed and grinned back. Charlotte pushed Lily into James,

"Here you go James!" she laughed, James flushed but chuckled, Lily on the other hand, didn't seem to take it so well. She chucked her goblet at Charlotte, with its contents and all. Charlotte stopped laughing to block the goblet, but the pumpkin juice didn't seem to miss. Charlotte cleaned herself up with her wand, and a mock angry expression,

"I have to admit, I have once again fallen into the red-head's traps" she sighed,

"Well, you deserved it," Alice pointed out

"Too right I did," Charlotte grinned at Lily, who poked her tongue out.

This was basically how dinner went, Charlotte was annoying, Lily was angry, and James was simply amused, along with Alice and the rest of the marauders.

At the end of dinner, they all walked back to the common room, except for Alice, who had disappeared to merlin knows where.

Lily looked around for her, when she found her, she noticed Alice talking to Frank, fingers intertwined. Lily smiled. She knew how long Alice had fancied Frank, and for that matter, how long Frank had fancied Alice. Both of them had confessed to Lily a long time ago about their fancies, and now Lily was happy for them.

Lily would probably never get a proper boyfriend, she thought, not with James ready to pounce on anyone who was interested in taking up that title, anyway. Seems like if she _did_ want a boyfriend, James was the person she would have to go to, she realised this was probably his plan all along.

Lily scowled, James, who was walking next to her, wondered what she was thinking about. He asked her,

"huh? Um, its nothing…" she laughed,

The gang reached the Gryffindor common room, Charlotte was beginning to produce the energy that she had wasted laughing during dinner. She had eaten too much treacle pudding, and now, with too much sugar in her system, there was no way that the Gryffindors would see another day.

The day still hadn't finished yet, as much as Lily wanted to get to bed, she still wanted to get her defence against the dark arts essay finished. James seemed to have similar ideas, as he headed for the couched with a roll of parchment and his quill.

Charlotte was the only one who didn't want to finish her essay. None of the marauders or Lily argued, so Charlotte was often seen running or twirling around the common room, similar to a five year old with boredom. After a few minutes of the feeling being left out, Charlotte joined their studying session too, everyone sighed. They were glad to see her calm down. Charlotte just laughed.

When Lily had finished her essay, she leaned back in her arm chair and sighed, James looked up,

"You're already finished?"

"Yup, and now I'm going to bed!" Sirius glared at her enviously, as she walked up the stairs,

"Goodnight!" she nodded at the marauders, before realising that Charlotte had fallen asleep on the couch with her quill in her hands and ink of her face.

Lily ran down to look at Charlotte, the marauders looked up, Sirius began to laugh hysterically, at the sight, Charlotte woke up, blinking tiredly, she rubbed her eyes, and looked like an amazingly adorable toddler. Lily smiled down at her, and tugged at her hand,

"Come on, Charlie, it's time to go to bed,"

"Hm? But my essay!" Charlotte protested, still tired, Lily led her up the stairs and Charlotte followed slowly. Sirius was still on the ground laughing, James smiled at Lily,

"Goodnight everyone," she smiled before vanishing behind the door of the girl's dormitory.


	4. The patronus charm

James woke up the next morning feeling grouchy, he wasn't a morning person at all, but when Lily smiled at him in the common room before breakfast, that had begun to change.

Lily was beginning to like James, _as a friend_, maybe she _hadn't_ realized what kind of person he _really _was all this time. Lily sighed, and silently cursed her brain for being so narrow-minded, she wondered how it felt to be rejected so many times. She figured that James was probably used to it by now. She sighed again before heading to the Gryffindor table for breakfast.

She went and sat down at the table, next to James(it was expected of her), who smiled at her. Strawberry pancakes, she just knew this was going to be a good day. She said this aloud, to James and he smiled at her optimism.

Defence against the dark arts, first period. Lily was excited; their professor had said that the next lesson was a surprise. She tried to figure out what they were going to do.

"Patronuses," Professor Felder explained after the class had been seated,

"The patronus charm protects you from dark creatures that are otherwise very hard to repel, such as Dementors and Lethifolds," she walked around the room, wand in hand, and holding the other tip of her wand with her fingers "To conjure up a patronus, you must think of your happiest moment, the happier the thought, the stronger the charm," she paused, "Now, your patronus takes the shape of what your animagus will be, many wizards also have the theory that the shape of the patronus that you conjure is linked with your fate," She rolled her eyes, after a cloud of giggles filled up the room.

Charlotte, who was seated in front of Lily, grinned at her and nodded at Alice and Frank. Lily smiled, and then got out her wand to move the furniture, thinking of what her happiest memory could be. She thought of back when Petunia was talking to her, but that just made her feel horrible, and how much she missed her, instead she thought of her first day at Hogwarts. The sorting, the school song, the food, and the day she met Charlotte and Alice.

She smiled, that would do it,

Her face fell, all that came out the end of her wand was a spray of blue, disappointing smoke. A lot of the students were getting discouraged after so many attempts,

"It may take a few tries to find the right memory, and remember to focus very closely to that memory," Professor Felder added,

Lily sighed before trying again, picking another memory, she decided that she _would_ think of Petunia, she was sure that it would work now. Although, she knew that thinking of Petunia would just make her upset, she realized that _that moment_ was when she felt the happiest.

She tried once more, and a light blue doe sprung out from the tip, with curls of blue smoke following it. She smiled, a doe.

James had successfully conjured up his own patronus, a stag, just like is animagus. It was easy, he just had to concentrate on Lily's cheerful face, that first day that she had truly smiled at him. He glanced at Lily's patronus, he coughed, choking on his on saliva, _a doe?_ He flushed, _the shape of the patronus that you conjure up is linked with your fate…_

Professor Felder was walking around the room, when she found two successful students,

"Ah, Miss Evans and Mr Potter have done it!" she chuckled without realizing how much embarrassment she was putting them through, the class turned to look at them, and Lily spun around to see James' patronus, it took a while for the thought to sink in. A stag? A doe? Lily flushed, she knew Charlotte was never going to let her forget this. James looked her and smiled, blushing.

Lily tried to avoid his eye contact, she knew she would automatically smile back, and she didn't want to give the class anything else to laugh about. Lily looked around the room to distract herself from looking at James,

"Well," Felder finally understanding what the chatter was about, "Get back to work, I expect each of you to conjure a patronus before the end of the class," she said sternly, "Or it will appear in you reports,"

The class went back to work, stressed about their grades, of course this wasn't true, Lily knew this, so she gave professor Felder a grateful look before reaching for her book.

By the end of the class, everyone _had_ conjured up a patronus, Professor Felder smiled at Lily and James because of this.

Charlotte decided to come and talk to Lily,

"Hey Lily!"

Lily looked at her unwelcomingly, "What?" she asked, her green eyes narrowed, blushing.

Charlotte could sense her friend's embarrassment, so she decided not to bring up the patronus subject,

"First game of quidditch on Saturday, Gryffindor against Hufflepuff, you coming?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just asking,"

Lily knew why, she knew that Charlotte was going to talk about the patronus incident,

"Thanks, Charlie"

"For what?"

"For changing the subject," Lily smiled,

Meanwhile, back in the marauders' conversation,

"You should've seen your face James!" Sirius laughed,

"Yup, red as a boiled tomato!" Peter added,

"Better yet, you should've seen _her_ face!" Sirius couldn't contain himself,

"Don't bring this up when she's here, okay?" James begged, Remus nodding along with him,

Sirius was still laughing hysterically,

"OKAY?"

Sirius paused,

"Fine! If it worries you _that _much," Sirius replied,

"But yeah, she _did_ look cute," James smiled, blushing as replayed the memory. The marauders grew silent, smiling and letting him reminisce in peace.

Alice ran up to Lily and Charlotte, blushing,

"Lily, Charlie!" She shouted almost too cheerfully,

"You seem happy," Lily replied,

"Frank and I have the same patronus!" She smiled, Lily flushed,

"You're kidding!" Charlotte laughed, she glanced at Lily with a worried look, before continuing,

"Ah well, did anything happen after that? Lily and I noticed that you were missing," She asked, with a raised eye brow,

"Yes," Alice began to blush,

"What?" Lily was thrown back into the conversation with curiosity,

"He asked me out to the next Hogsmeade weekend," She began to blush even more,

"Wait, but James and I haven't even planned it yet! Wait, I'll make it next week! There's a quidditch game this Saturday, okay?"

Alice smiled at her gratefully,

"So what about you and J-" she stopped, after the look on Charlotte's face and a thorough shake of her head with wide eyes and a pressed mouth,

"-and Charlotte!" Alice finished, saving herself in time, Lily sighed, and smiled at her too best friends. She had noticed,

"Oh, well we'll probably go exploring around Hogsmeade…"

Charlotte immediately flushed, Lily noticed,

"Not you too!" Lily mocked ,

"Yeah," Charlotte replied,

"With who?"

Charlotte replied so quietly that Lily could barely hear her,

"What was that, Charlie, I couldn't hear you!" she laughed,

Charlotte narrowed her eyes,

"I guess you'll have to go alone then Lily, unless you've got some _plans,_"

"I guess I'll have to go by myself then!" Lily concluded with a pompous accent,

Alice sniggered, and Lily glared at her,

"And what happens to amuse you so suddenly, may I ask?"

"Oh, I just…you know…remembered that Frank and I weren't the _only_ ones who conjured a similar patronus…" Alice raised an eyebrow,

Lily flushed almost immediately,

"So, what? Professor Felder didn't believe patronuses proved _anything,_ except for your animagus!" She protested, " But, I do believe that Frank and you make a perfect match," she added after realising that she may have somehow offended Alice.

The three of them grew silent, as Lily blushed a deep scarlet. Lily thought about it, _the shape of the patronus that you conjure is linked with your fate…_she couldn't help but think of those words, were they true? She needed answers. Lily didn't know what to think anymore, the words replayed in her head like a broken record, as she remembered the incident back in the defence against the dark arts room.

Sirius saw the trio from across the corridor,

"Hey Prongs, looks like their talking about you!" He pointed out, laughing,

James looked over at Lily, who was still blushing, but was regaining the conversation with her friends, he smiled. Maybe strawberry pancakes were a good sign after all.


End file.
